The suspect who robbed a gold shop in a Chiang Mai department store has been arrested. It was discovered that he lured a driver through an app, killed him, and then used the car for the gold robbery.
A tall, thin man wearing black jeans, a rider’s jacket, hat, and face mask entered the Aurora gold shop on the 2nd floor of Central Festival Chiang Mai around 11:30 AM on July 8.
After the staff refused to put gold in a plastic bag and activated the alarm, the criminal calmly walked behind the counter and selected gold necklaces from various displays, focusing on 10-baht weight pieces. As of today, the selling price of 1 baht of ornamental gold in Thailand is 41,350 baht.
He’s estimated to have taken nearly 100 baht weight of gold in just over a minute before fleeing the store.
The suspect escaped in a car left running outside the mall’s second-floor parking area.
Police believe the criminal was well-prepared. He spent only 1 minute and 44 seconds robbing the store but left several clues.
Later in the evening, police found the suspect’s sedan abandoned on the road to Doi Suthep, about 500 meters from Wat Pha Lat. The suspect wasn’t found, but officers tried to cordon off the area. Blood stains were found in the car, along with .22 caliber bullet casings.
By late evening, Region 5 Provincial Police arrested Niphitphon, 26, at a house in San Um village, Chiang Dao district, Chiang Mai. They seized the gun used in the crime, gold jewelry, and clothes worn during the robbery.
During interrogation, the suspect confessed that before the incident, he parked his own car at the foot of Doi Suthep and walked up a shortcut to Pha Lat Waterfall.
He had called for a ride through an app early on July 8. He sat in the back seat and shot the unsuspecting driver in the back of the head with a 9mm gun. He then moved the body to the passenger seat and dumped it in a deep ravine before Wat Pha Lat. Later that morning, he used the victim’s car for the gold robbery.
Afterward, he abandoned the sedan at Pha Lat Waterfall and retrieved his own car from Kalae Reservoir. He tried to sell some gold to shops in Chiang Mai city but was refused. He eventually sold two necklaces to shops in San Kamphaeng and Doi Saket districts. Police later recovered all the gold including those found hidden around the suspect’s house.
The suspect was taken to reenact the crime and point out where he dumped the body. Rescue teams had to rappel down to retrieve the body for autopsy.
Pol Lt Gen Krittapol Yisakhon, Commander of Provincial Police Region 5, revealed that the suspect had been planning since last October and had previously scouted the gold shop. The motive was financial problems and family issues, with plans to travel abroad if successful.
Initially, charges include armed robbery, premeditated murder, carrying a firearm in public without permission, and ongoing investigation into the source of the weapon. (TNA)
